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5-Year-Old Child Saves Family!

A 5-year-old Canadian girl saved her family’s life after a motor vehicle accident. Apparently, her mother fell asleep while driving and drove down a 40-foot ridge. After freeing herself from her car seat and crawling out of the wreckage; she walked barefoot up an embankment to summon help.

According to her mother, “I can only remember one or two times where she got out of her five-point harness previously. She somehow got out, adrenaline or whatever, and barefoot hiked up the embankment.”

Whatever the reason, her mother and 10-week-old brother are probably alive because of her actions on that faithful day. She managed to unclip the harness on her car seat, which had lodged against the seat in front of her, opened the car’s damaged passenger door and made her way up rugged terrain without shoes.

Then she flagged down a passing car and told the driver what happened.

The mom, who is a swim teacher, broke her back in two places, underwent surgery to repair internal bleeding and had some organs removed. The brother required neurosurgery to reduce brain swelling, but the hero made it out with only scratches.

They airlifted all three to a hospital and were there 19 days. They’re home recovering, but the hero is unaware of her actions.

“She just doesn’t know what it means,” her mother said. “She’s just 5 years old and so happy to be home and playing with her dog and her ducks.”

I’ve been thinking of this story since I read the article several days ago, and the questions I keep asking myself. What inside a 5-year-old child results in them being able to respond to a critical incident the way she did? Was it adrenaline? Was it her upbringing? Was it past experiences in her young life? Was it her personality/intelligence? Or was it just her? I find this interesting.

I took some information from an article by mchan@nydailynews.com

Angela Szymanski’s (mother) family started a GoFundMe page. The accident occurred in the mountainous town of Jasper in western Alberta, Canada. Please make a donation.